Montgomery County Fair

We took the boys to the MC Fair this afternoon/evening. We left after Max woke up from his nap around 3:30 and met Jason from work. We stayed for about 2 1/2 hours which was plenty of time. We rode some rides, played some games, ate some food (well the boys did anyway), and looked at animals. Max loved all the music, animals and decorative flags hanging everywhere. Kyle loved the rides, games, and food! All 4 of us rode the ferris wheel. Kyle and I rode the carousel. And Jason and Kyle rode a little roller coaster. Kyle also climbed on a big jungle gym structure with lots of netting and a couple big slides, as well as rode the "Super Slide" all by himself. He looked a little scared coming down, but said it was fun! Kyle won two stuffed toys - a stuffed dog playing a dart balloon popping game and a stuffed spiderman playing the "pick a duck" game. Max also played the "pick a duck" game and won a little blue dolphin. He was happy just to pick the ducks out of the water over and over again which they were nice enough to let him do for a bit. When he found out he won something it was even better and he loved his little blue dolphin and cuddled him all the way home! Kyle wasn't too excited about looking at the animals. After about 5 minutes he was asking to get ice cream and ride rides again. Max, on the other hand, could have looked at them a bit longer and was quite enjoying it. We just had to watch his little hands that he kept wanting to put through the cages/fences. It was very hot, but overall a fun time!

Summer fun

After our late night at Kings Dominion, we spent all day Saturday at Ma and Pa's house playing and having fun - bubbles, trains, transformers (a stash of Uncle Mike's from when he was a kid), pool, sprinkler, and cars are a just a few of the things that kept them entertained.

Kings Dominion (again)

Friday morning I took the boys down to my parents house. Jason had to work so he joined us late that night. My Mom came home from work early to watch Max and my Dad came home early to accompany Kyle and I to Kings Dominion. Since we had season passes from earlier in the summer we wanted to get in another trip! We had a great time and Kyle had his latest night ever - didn't get to bed till 10:00pm! I was surprised he didn't crash in the car on the way home, but I guess I shouldn't be that surprised considering he had ate every last drop of his cotton candy dessert at around 8pm! We rode rides, ate pizza, and played games. Kyle also got to see everything all lit up for the first time since it was dark when we left. He loved the fountains on Main street that change colors. They turned orange and he was very excited to take a picture of that! And he got a glow sword on the way out! It was a fun afternoon/evening! Thanks to "Pa" for treating us to a fun time!

Brookeside Gardens

Today I took the boys to Brookeside Gardens to see the Butterfly Exhibit. The gardens were beautiful and the butterflies were fun to look at, especially in such great quantity! I'm not sure it was worth the admission we had to pay to get in plus travel time and it was a very HOT day, but it was something different and there were some good moments! We spent about an hour and a half at the gardens and 15 minutes of that time was in the butterfly exhibit. Poor Max fell shortly after we arrived. It's all downhill to walk from where we parked down through the gardens to the butterflies and of course Max wanted to walk (and run) himself. He took a fall before I could catch him and landed on his head so he had a pretty nasty bump/scrapes from that fall and he was a little cranky after that. He liked the butterflies for about 2 minutes, then a butterfly landed on his arm while we were in the butterfly exhibit and that totally freaked him out for some reason. After that he was very weary of all butterflies so I had to carry him around clinging to me and several landed on my shoulder which freaked him out some more - poor guy! Of course, not a single butterfly landed on Kyle and he was putting his arms out saying "Land on me butterflies, land on me!" We had our camera but after a few pictures the battery died :(. Kyle was very excited to be the "photographer" for our trip and was a little sad that we didn't get to take more pictures, and so was I. On the way out we found a shady bench near a fountain and sat and the boys had a snack. That was actually quite nice and we talked about the butterflies we'd seen and the flowers that were around us. So, it ended on a good note, but we were all quite tired from all the walking and the heat and definitely ready to head home.

Max speaks

Max went from 0 words less than 2 months ago to speaking so many words I can't even count them! His favorite word at the moment is "apple." He says it ALL the time! He does know the meaning of the word and will point it out if he sees a real one or one in a book or somewhere else. He also goes around just saying "apple" repeatedly - I guess he just likes how it sounds. Upon waking from his naps and in the morning, the first word he says is "apple." Other favorite words include: Daddy, car, ball, Kyle, bubble, and Mommy(although this one took awhile). He pretty much repeats anything you say and will even attempt to ask for food, toys, etc. by name. He can say "sorry" when he does something wrong and somtimes says "please" when prompted. His love of trains has prompted him to know the word "battery." When playing with motorized trains if he turns one on and it doesn't work he immediately brings it to me and asks for a new battery! And if you say "I love you" to him he says it back "uv-oo." It's very sweet! Of course many of these words don't sound EXACTLY like the actual word, but if you know the context of the situation it's pretty obvious most of the time what he's trying to say and some of his words are crystal clear. He's been working hard . . . maybe that's where all the extra sleep has been coming from lately. He often sleeps 13-14 hours at night and is still taking a 2 hour nap every afternoon. And he's walking/running all over the place which I'm sure wears him out as well. When he's awake he's a very active little guy! Here's a video of him "talking" - it's the best I could get since he never wants to stay still! You can hear a few of his words in it though with Kyle's prompting. Kyle loves to tell him to say words and then he'll get so excited and come and tell me "Max can say ____ now. I taught it to him!"

Visit with Ma, Pa, and Uncle Mike

On Saturday my parents and brother came to visit. Ma and Pa came bearing gifts as always. Today Kyle got a new Lego set. It's a car that can be built 3 different ways - car, racecar, and jeep. He LOVED it! It's been 2 days and he's built each kind of car at least twice. If he has help he can build it in 45 minutes. Today he did one mostly on his own and it took a little over an hour. I'm very impressed that he has the patience and skill to complete this task. The toy says ages 6 and up and he's quickly becoming a pro! He liked having Uncle Mike, Pa, and Daddy help him build them on Saturday. Apparently when I help him I sometimes tell him the pieces go in the wrong places and he even told me once that I should hold it a certain way so he could connect two pieces the way Uncle Mike usually does! I don't think I've ever built legos my entire life (despite the fact that my brother had a TON growing up). It just wasn't something that interested me and I think I did pretty well for my first time :) I think it must be a boy thing! The boys had a great time playing with Ma, Pa, and Uncle Mike - it was great to see them! Later that afternoon Jason and I also had a chance to go see a movie and then out to dinner at the Melting Pot. It was a fun day!

Silly hats

Kyle recently saw an activity idea in his High Five magazine to make a mobile using pipe cleaners, sticks, pine cones, etc. The next day we went and got pipe cleaners and he collected some sticks from outside to make his mobile. Ever since he's been obsessed with making things with the pipe cleaners. Today he decided we should all make silly hats!